That Tokyo glow

The amazing thing about the LPI certification exams is that they are written by the Linux community. It is a testimony of the smooth cooperation between industry and community that Linux working environment encourages.

TOKYO -- There aren't a whole lot of really tall buildings downtown here. From
the 22nd story of an office tower you can see the city totally spread
out around you for miles, until your vision is stopped either by the
horizon, the clouds, or the pollution.

It was in a meeting room with this vista, earlier this week, where the Linux Professional Institute's Japanese wing
took flight and announced to the world the availability for the first time
of the LPI's certification exams in a language other than English.
Forgetting the fact that I seemed to have spent more time flying to Japan
than actually staying there last weekend, the trip left me somewhat
awestruck.

There for the start
Before I go any further, I will state up front my bias here. I played a
part in the beginnings of LPI, and I'm still on its board. That's why I
was sitting at the table at the press conference as a participant and not
as a reporter, offering answers rather than asking the questions. The room was
full -- more than 30 reporters were taking notes and/or shooting
cameras.

I'd be lying if I didn't say this trip was something of a source of pride
for me; I scanned the press conference in near-disbelief a number of
times. Sitting around me were top executives of Japanese computer giants
Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC, Japanese reps from SGI and IBM, and folks
representing Japan's two top commercial Linux distributions, Laser5 and TurboLinux. In total, nine
LPI-Japan people were there alongside me. It was like a who's who of the
Japanese corporate Linux scene, all sitting at one table supporting a
project that started out as a couple of modest mailing lists barely more
than two years ago.

LPI could (and likely would) have happened whether or not I got involved
-- but it couldn't have happened without the thousands of people that have
become involved with it. They include the whole range, from President Dan
York and the hundreds of hours he's put in, to the many hundreds of casual
mailing list participants. LPI's organizational model, of combining
industry talent with community contribution, stands as a
living demonstration of the smooth cooperation between the two groups
that the Linux working environment encourages.

Group input
Consider, for a moment, the way LPI's exams were actually crafted. A
professional -- Scott Murray, who holds a masters degree in psychometrics -- was
charged with the design of each exam and making sure that it does the best
possible job of separating those who know their stuff from those who
don't. Yet who actually wrote the questions that showed up on LPI's two
existing exams? Anyone and everyone.

A special page on the LPI website was used to solicit exam questions
from the public. Scott and a team he'd assembled picked out the
submissions that were useful from those that were not. The
fascinating (to me still) fact is that the LPI exams were written by the
Linux community. That page will no doubt return during the creation
of LPI's second level exams, a process which has
already started.

And the community involvement doesn't end there. The LPI logo was
designed by a student from Bogota, Columbia; the design of the website
from a small company in Florida, and it's maintained by a truly
international team using management models that could just as easily
apply to open source software development.

LPI supporters are helping spread the word in almost every country.
The LPI website has already been translated into five languages, with
more certain to come. The process of translating the exams themselves
is more difficult because doing it precisely is expensive, but no doubt
that will happen as well. In the meantime, volunteers are helping with
everything from the system's database to its publicity and fund-raising
efforts. And the support of Linux companies from around the world has
certainly helped in ways far beyond the simple financial benefits.
Every new vendor or group supporting LPI is another group that's
chosen not to re-invent the wheel, another group that has recognized the benefit of one
community-wide distribution over a landscape (such as we see in the Unix
world) where every vendor has their own parochial system.

In this regard, LPI is different from any other certification because it is
totally independent of vendors -- Linux vendors, training vendors, book
publishers, whatever. LPI's independence and non-profit mandate ensure
that the overall needs of the community -- which includes the vendors --
are paramount.

Global phenomenon
When it all comes together, as in the case of LPI-Japan, it's a work of art. I
wish I could take credit but all I can do is sit back and watch Gen Nauri
(who started it all here in Japan) and his team at work. And I know of
other groups in other countries that are interested in following the lead;
the momentum is all forward.

Of course, where they're moving forward is not necessarily of interest to
everyone. Linux certification isn't everyone's cup of Oolong tea; it's a specialized field
that's designed to help develop the skilled Linux administrators who are
going to be in high demand as Linux moves further into the computing
mainstream.

(And yes, I know the objections. Linux certification is no substitute for
background- or reference-checking, or a good interview. But when it comes
to the task of making the choice to use Linux in business as easy as
possible, certification most certainly has a role. That issue is
discussed right on the LPI
website.)

OK, so I'm gushing a bit. I figure I'm entitled, since my last few columns
have been downers of sorts, and it's just as important to bring attention
to what gets done right in the Linux world as to what needs help. Besides,
given the scope of this column, leaving out the role of LPI in the growth
of Linux into the computing mainstream is more of a disservice than
writing about it from my admittedly biased perspective.

LPI is one such example of industry and community factions getting together to do
it right. And while I'm indeed proud to have played a part in it, I'm only
one of a cast of hundreds who have each done their part to help Linux into
the business world. They are too numerous to all be mentioned, but I hope
readers here will have a look at the LPI website themselves and see that
the Linux spirit doesn't just apply to writing code.

Where do you exercise your Linux team spirit? Tell Evan in the TalkBack below. Or write to Evan directly at evan@starnix.com.

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